There is a serious accident where, on December 8, 1980, John Lennon was shot outside the Dakota apartment building in New York City. Emergency personnel seem to have no idea what really happened about the victim as she will become the biggest rock star in the world. The movie follows the lives of police officers, nurses and emergency doctors who are racing to save Lennon's life.
"The Lennon Report" offers no special insights into Lennon, or the country, or that awful night, but it does bring back the time. It looks and feels like 1980.
What hampers The Lennon Report are its austere budget -- we're told that 1980 is an especially violent year in New York, yet the hospital is all but deserted -- and its occasionally sub-par acting.
Dramatic recreation of the night John Lennon was murdered matter-of-factly recalls a dirtier, less tourist-friendly New York City and an era when bad news was no surprise.
The production doesn't have the budget to fully recreate the era, but "The Lennon Report" comes through with an original vision for a dire subject matter.
Despite the admittedly unique angle, this ambitious drama gets crushed under the considerable weight of its artistic, as well as budgetary, limitations.
